Snow day!

So Jesse and I decided to have
a snow day! It was SO much fun!
He received a snow suit for Christmas
so we HAD to try it out.
So we bundled all up and went
outside. He really liked it and
didn't get a single part of his
body wet except for his face.
At one point his gloves were so
wet and when he tried to wipe his
face it got really cold- that is when
we went back inside.

I think that I need to buy him a sled
that I can pull him around in!

Here is a movie of him having fun!

Jesse's First Birthday Party

Jesse turns one on the 5th of January.

I can't believe it! We celebrated his 

birthday with a small group of people

at our home. We had some finger

snacks and birthday cake. It was a 

nice, but crowded, get-together. 

Here is Jesse opening up a book we

gave him:

Here is Jesse playing with his cousin

Darien

We had to do the traditional birthday

cake mess and this was a picture of 

him while we were singing happy 

birthday to him. He looked rather 

confused, but it was cute. I can't believe

how grown up he is getting! This 

picture especially makes him look 

like a toddler!

Here is the sequence of events as he

eats his cake (it was the head of the 
snake cake)

He wanted to share with dad!

Christina and Josh brought over this

cute rocking horse! I love it!

Jesse is always going back to Brent 

at some point!

I received a cake mix book for Christmas from

my parents and this was one of the cakes in it. 

It was so cute, but mine didn't turn out perfect.

it was fun to make though!

Here are all of our goodies for people to eat!

Thank you to everyone that came and gave Jesse such cute presents!

Christmas in Oregon

These pictures are a little bit out of order...but here they

 are. We drove down to Oregon on Friday, December 19th after 

Andy got off work. It was snow hard in Ogden, but when we got

 out of town, the snowing stopped and our trip was

 uneventful. We stopped in Ontario, Oregon and

stayed the night at a nice hotel. The next morning went 

without any setbacks until we reached the Dalles. From 

that point on, we never traveled above 30 mph and had chains

 on most of the time. The roads were icey and nasty and we drove

 white knuckle all the way to Salem. What should have been a 6 hour

 trip that day turned out to be a ten hour trip. Lets just say that

 I was done riding in the car for a lifetime!!! 

Here is a picture of Jesse with his favorite uncle (seriously!):

When we arrived in Oregon, Jesse was happy and 

hardly cried!my parents thought he was this perfect 

angel but...well lets just say its a different story at home. 

Anyway, we arrived Saturday night around nine o'clock and

 went to bed sometime that night. The next morning was a 

beautiful silver thaw and it made everything frost over! I wish

 i had gotten pictures! So church was cancel and we had our own

 service at home. It was quite nice. That day we lost power....

and did get it back until Christmas. Thank goodness for the

 prepardness of my parents or else we would be without 

water, food etc. Wehad a wood stove to cook on and 

keep warm and eventually we were able to use the generator

 to backfeed the house and get basic electricity. 

my happy boy

This is Christmas Morning and Jesse's present was quite a hit!

This is one Jesse's shirts he got and I loved it! He looks good in red

Being in Oregon was so refreshing! I love the trees and the air

that seems to be fresher! :) Snow is a rariety there so I had 
to get some pictures of our beatiful view

Christmas was wonderful. Even though we didn't have 

all the luxuries that we were suppose to , it was a new

 experience and one we will never forget! It helped

me to focus on Christ this year and to not take

 for granted the things I use everyday.

These are all of the gifts that we received this year. 

Thanks to everyone for a wonderful

Christmas!

My parents tree was 13ft tall and decorated beautifully! 

Here is my bro-in-law Christmas morning playing with some gadget!

Mom, I know you will hate me for posting this but iti s the only one i have of you!

Anne in her Christmas pjs! (yeah you can kill me later)

The living room Christmas morning after gifts. Pretty ridiculous

aparently 7:30 was too early for Paul. I think he slept until noon like this

Jesse was pretty excited about all his gifts

I thought i had caught some pictures of the beach and other adventures, but I guess not.

I will leave all the fantastic picture takeing to my mom and sister, until i can afford a nicer camera. On the 27th, Andy and I prepared to go home, but we decided that I should stay and Andy should drive home. Two days later and a flat tire, Andy made it home and I was still in Oregon. By staying I was able to see my Grandma and many other aunts and uncles I hadn't seen for a while. I was also able to see the beach I love and miss all the time. I was able to spend the new year with my brothers and sisters and parents and overall it was worth it. I flew home

with Jesse on the 2nd and I won't talk about the plane ride, i have blocked it out. But i made it home. And Jesse was so excited to see his dad, as was I. So until our next vacation, bon voyage Oregon.